Her thoughts were interrupted when Peter came dashing in from the porch and scooped her into his arms.
“I’ve installed a camera outside, and I just finished upgrading the camera in William’s room. I’ve also had the locks changed,” he said. He kissed her gently and held her close. “Please, please don’t go chasing after the bad guys again. Not without me by your side. We’re a team.”
“I’m fine, Pete, really. They didn’t hurt me. I hurt me. I’m too out of shape to be running after anyone, aside from William. Thank you for doing all that you did today to keep our family safe.”
Jennifer held her husband close. They were standing in the same spot she had been standing in the night before, when she’d first encountered the intruder. She looked at the kitchen floor and noticed that the broken wine glass had been cleaned up, but a few pieces of mail were lying there.
Like a lightning bolt, the memory of the piece of mail she’d set on the counter the day before hit her. Jennifer realized that she had forgotten to tell the chief about it. She pulled away from Peter and walked toward the kitchen to pick the mail up.
“Pete, did you throw any of the mail away while I was sleeping?” she asked.
“No, I didn’t. I’m sorry I didn’t get around to cleaning it up. The intruder must have knocked the pile over, along with that wine glass, on the way out.”
“Please, you’ve done enough,” she said. “I can certainly clean up a few letters.”
Jennifer gathered up and looked through the mail. Then she looked through it a second and a third time.
“It’s gone,” she said.
“What is?” Peter asked.
“There was a letter in this pile that was delivered here, addressed to Ethan. I can’t find it. I need to go tell the chief. Looks like he’s talking to Suzanne outside.”
Jennifer walked out to the squad car in front of her house.
“I saw the chief was leaving, so I decided to bring William home. I thought you might be anxious to see him,” Suzanne said.
“You have no idea, friend. Peter is inside. I have one last thing to tell the chief. I’ll be right in. Thank you so much, Suzanne.”
Suzanne smiled, and walked toward Jennifer’s house. Jennifer turned to Chief Fitzgerald.
“Chief, I remembered one last thing,” she began. “It’s probably nothing, but I thought you should know. A business letter addressed to Ethan was delivered to my house by mistake. It was on my counter, but the intruder knocked over the pile of mail and jumbled everything up. I’ve looked through the pile three times, and that letter is nowhere to be found. Maybe it slid under the stove or something. I’ll check again later.”
“Huh. That’s peculiar,” the chief replied. “Any idea who it was from?”
“I’ll have to think about that,” Jennifer said. “My brain is still a bit foggy. Once I remember, I’ll let you know.”
The chief looked concerned. “Okay, Slugger. Rest up, and lock up. I’ve assigned extra patrols to this area for the time being.”
That made Jennifer feel a bit better. “Thanks again, Chief. Go easy on Jimmy, will you? He’s got a lot of promise.”
The chief gave her a half-smile and shook his head. “I know, and that’s exactly why I won’t be easy on him. Take care.”
Jennifer waved and turned toward her house. She paused for a second and wondered if that was why the chief had initially been hard on her too. Whatever the case, she felt better knowing that a man like that was in her corner.
As she was walking towards the house, her cell phone began to ring. It was a Staten Island number. She hesitated to pick it up because she knew it might be Joey, and if Joey had been the intruder, she didn’t want to say or do anything to provoke him. She decided to let the call go to voicemail.
She continued eagerly up the driveway toward the house. She really wanted to spend some time with her little guy, but the chickens caught sight of her and started to cluck wildly, so she switched gears and decided to check on them. Peter had had a lot on his plate earlier today, and she figured he hadn’t had time to refill their food and water and collect their eggs.
The six little hens gathered excitedly by the door to the pen. “Not yet, ladies,” Jennifer said to them. “I’ll let you out later this evening, and you can eat all the worms you want.”
She opened the coop door and collected the eggs from the nesting boxes and refilled the feed. Then her favorite hen, Henny, came into the coop for a visit, bowing her head for a pet and clucking softly. Jennifer often wondered what it was about the chickens that made her so calm, but their little personalities and silly ways really brought her some peace. That was what she needed right now: a bit of peace.
“I was going to take care of the girls!” Peter shouted from the back door. “Please come inside and get some rest.”
Jennifer closed the coop door and headed inside with her eggs. Peter was right: she needed some rest. Her head was starting to hurt, and she wanted to get into her bed and sleep.
“You know I love taking care of my girls,” she said to Peter as she walked back through the door.
William ran up to her and gave her a big hug. She squeezed her little man and took him inside. He pulled away and touched Jennifer’s bandage.
“Mommy has an ouchy?” he asked, and he kissed her head.
“Thank you, sweetheart. That feels much better,” Jennifer said.
William smiled and had a look of pride on his face that he had made his mama feel better. She felt a small piece inside her begin to heal, but a bigger piece was still very broken: her head. She winced in pain as it started to pound.
“I hate to say it, Pete, but I think I need to lie down. I feel the onset of a headache. Do you mind?”
Peter shook his head. Jennifer could see he was tired too.
“Please, rest up. The sooner you recover, the sooner we can get back to normal.”
Jennifer let out a sigh. “Normal, eh? I’m not sure if life is ever going to go back to normal. At least not the way we once knew it.”
“A new normal, then. I just want to move past all of this,” Peter replied.
Jennifer’s phone started buzzing again. She looked down to see who it was, and it was the Staten Island number again. She pressed decline and let it go to voicemail.
“Who was that?” Peter asked.
Jennifer hesitated and wondered if she should lie so Peter wouldn’t worry. “I think it might be Joey.”
“Why would Joey be calling you, Jen? I don’t want us wrapped up in this anymore,” Peter said, his voice brimming with exasperation.
It was too late, though. They were involved, and now not only was a killer on the loose, he or she had likely been in their home last night and was possibly calling her repeatedly.
“I think it’s too late to back out now. Did you talk to the chief?” Jennifer asked.
“Yes. I know Ethan is innocent,” Peter said.
“Well, then, you know what that means, right? Whoever killed Sarah and Ethan broke into our home last night, and for what?”
“I don’t want to think about for what,” Peter said. “I think you interrupted them before we became his or her next victims.” His voice started to tremble. “We treated this like a big game, but maybe we got too close by going down to Staten Island. I just want this to be over.”
His usual goofy and playful nature was virtually undetectable in this moment. Jennifer knew that he was serious.
“Well, the only way for it to be over is for the bad guy to be caught. This isn’t just going to go away,” she said. Her headache was full-blown, and nausea had started to set in. “I’m not taking any calls today, and I’m certainly not going to go digging around in the shape I’m in. I need to go rest, and maybe we can go for dinner with William in a few hours. Maybe to that 50s diner you like in town. I’m in the mood for a
big burger and a milkshake.”
“We’ll see. I’m going to get William a snack for now. You go rest.” He sounded defeated.
They both knew this was far from over. But Jennifer had promised the chief that she would let him do his job, and for tonight she was going to keep that promise. Tomorrow was another story, though. She didn’t know if she’d be able to reject another call without finding out who it was and what they wanted. Tonight, though, she needed to rest.
Chapter 18
Jennifer awoke to the sounds of lively chatter and clanging pans coming from the kitchen. She rolled over to check the clock, and to her shock, it was 8 AM. She squinted, trying to focus on the clock to make sure she was reading it correctly. She’d slept through the night until the next day.
She lay there in her bed, trying to process the fact that she had slept for 15 hours straight. She couldn’t remember the last time she had peacefully slept through the night, much less from the afternoon straight through. A wave of guilt washed over her. She hadn’t kissed William good night, nor had she fulfilled her promise to go out to dinner last evening.
She picked up her phone to see if there were any new missed calls, and she noticed that she had a voicemail. She was too nervous to listen, so she put the phone back down on her nightstand and heaved herself out of bed to face the day. Her legs felt like they were made of concrete, so her first few steps were difficult.
William and Peter heard her and came running into the room.
“Mommy!” William exclaimed.
She picked her little boy up, gave him a squeeze and shifted him to her hip. “I’m so sorry about dinner,” she said.
“Please don’t worry,” Peter replied. “You were knocked out. I was tired too, so William and I ended up ordering Chinese and watched a movie. William really likes sweet and sour chicken.”
Jennifer laughed. “You know that’s basically just chicken nuggets? That’s all he’ll eat these days.”
Peter smiled. “I know, but don’t tell him that! How are you feeling?”
Jennifer took a second to run an internal system check. “Groggy, but much better. Nothing a little coffee won’t fix,” she said.
As they made their way to the kitchen, her phone rang again. It was the Staten Island number. She looked at Peter nervously.
He lifted William from her arms, and said, “Answer it.”
Jennifer hadn’t expected him to react that way, and she was a bit taken aback. Was she prepared to have a conversation with Joey?
She hesitantly pressed ‘accept’ on the screen and said, “Hello?” while looking Peter in the eye. He mouthed the word ‘coffee,’ and they continued to the kitchen. Jennifer sat down at the table, waiting for the caller to respond. It was only a second or so, but it felt like an eternity. She felt like she was going to be sick.
“Is this Jennifa?” a man’s voice said from the other end.
“That depends,” she said. “Are you the person who broke into my home the other night?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the caller said. “Vinny Malone gave me your number and said that you wanted to help clear Ethan. I’m Joey, Ethan’s buddy from the Island. I don’t know anything about no house gettin’ broken into.”
Jennifer thought he sounded genuine but didn’t quite trust him. She knew from what Vinny had said that he was a charmer and an operator.
“Okay,” she said. “I can’t tell you how I know, but I know Ethan is innocent. Can you think of anyone who wanted him dead? Or Sarah?”
“Honestly, we just started talking again,” Joey replied. “I got into some trouble and spent a nickel upstate. While I was there, Ethan got straight and started a family. I reached out to him thinkin’ he might wanna make a little extra cash ’cause I know kids ain’t cheap. He didn’t. He completely shut me down before I could even tell him about it. I lost out on the job, and that was that.”
Jennifer didn’t want to know all of the details of whatever illicit job Joey was referring to, but she wanted a bit more information, because lost money sounded like a motive to her.
“So, you lost out on the job? I bet that ticked you off,” she said flatly. She didn’t want to get too emotional or sound too accusatory for fear that he might hang up.
“I mean, I wasn’t happy about it or nothin’. I came around eventually,” he said.
“Eventually?” Jennifer asked.
Peter placed a hot cup of coffee in front of her. William sat happily building towers with Tupperware on the floor, but Peter just stared at her, biting his thumbnail with an intensely stressed look on his face.
“So, you were angry at first,” she continued. “What changed your mind?” Vinny had mentioned at dinner that he had talked things out with Joey and calmed him down. She wanted to see if Joey would tell the truth.
“Well, you talked to Vinny. You know the answer to that,” Joey said.
Checkmate, Jennifer thought. She couldn’t quite get a read on Joey.
“I do know the answer to that,” she said. “Why did you call me? What do you think I can do to help?”
“I dunno, really,” Joey said. “I just thought I could help. I was glad to hear that you thought Ethan was innocent.”
He sounded kind of lost and hopeless. Jennifer softened to him a bit, but she still wasn’t clear on his motives.
“Right now, Joey, I’ve got nothing. I have no idea who would do something like this. Do you?” she asked.
“Not that I can think of,” Joey replied. “I know Sarah’s father didn’t like Ethan, and that things between Ethan and his business partner were kinda rocky. Ethan also made a few enemies back in the day, but all of that’s just old B.S. I don’t think anyone would hold a grudge for this long.”
“Well, it’s hard to really know anyone, isn’t it, Joey?” Jennifer asked.
“I guess so,” he replied.
It wasn’t really in Jennifer’s nature to be so cold, but her home had been invaded the night before last, and she wasn’t taking any chances.
“If there’s anything else you can think of, you should probably just call the chief here. He’s on the case now,” she said.
“I’m not talkin’ to any cops. If I hear anything, I’m gonna come to you. Bye, now,” he replied, and hung up.
Jennifer felt uneasy about the way the conversation had gone, and even a bit threatened. She felt bad for Joey because he sounded concerned. She didn’t trust him, though. His concern could just as easily have been a ploy to get information.
She wondered if she’d messed up by telling him she knew for a fact that Ethan was innocent. However, if he was the killer, she thought that maybe he’d do something stupid or desperate because he knew the cops were on the case now. She had promised the chief she would stay out of the investigation, but here she was, right back in it. She hadn’t pursued this lead, though; Joey had come to her, and he was persistent.
“Whoa, babe, you did great!” Peter exclaimed. “I’m impressed. You were like a cop right then.”
Jennifer laughed. She needed to laugh. She had been on the verge of a panic attack, and Peter had broken her right out of it.
She threw a wadded napkin at him. “Don’t tease me. That was terrifying.”
“Hey, where’s the woman who conducted a stakeout of a potential mobster and ran after a home invader? You’re amazing.”
“I thought you didn’t want me doing those things,” Jennifer retorted.
“No, I said please don’t do those things without me by your side. I’m not sure you really need me, though. You’re tough. You have a knack for this. Whatever this is. Are you a detective now?” Peter laughed.
“According to the chief, my official title is armchair detective.” Jennifer looked up at her husband, who looked exhausted. “Why don’t you go shower and rest for a while? I’m going to get washed up, call Suzanne and take
William for a walk. You need a break.”
“You’re right,” Peter said. “A hot shower would be nice.” He picked William up, kissed him on the head, and handed him to Jennifer. “Take it slow there, tough guy,” he teased, and walked into the bedroom.
Jennifer held William and stared at the spot where she had seen the intruder just two nights ago. What did they want? she thought. Then she remembered the missing piece of mail.
What was the company name? She remembered distinctly that the logo had been green, her favorite color. She also remembered it had sounded something like Trident. She had originally thought it was junk mail from a dental office. She knew for sure it had ended with an ‘-ent’.
She turned to William. “What company ends in -ent, William?”
She grabbed her laptop, opened the search engine, and entered ‘company, green logo, -ent’. “Here goes nothing, baby,” she said to William as she pressed enter. To her astonishment, a thousand search results popped up. “Whoa. We’d better get to scrolling!”
But she scrolled through to no avail, and the morning was passing her by. The search would have to wait.
She looked down at William, who was starting to get a bit restless, and said, “Let’s call Auntie Suzanne to see if she wants to go for a walk.”
“Yay!” William exclaimed.
Perhaps Suzanne would remember what the company name was. Jennifer needed a break and a bit of normal. Going for a walk with Suzanne and William would do the trick.
Chapter 19
“So, let’s recap,” Suzanne said. “You’ve chased down an intruder and cleared Ethan in less than 12 hours? What’s next? Running for president by dinner?”
The women were on their third lap around the neighborhood. Jennifer had a lot to catch Suzanne up on. Chief Fitzgerald had told Suzanne a few things yesterday, and Jennifer was filling in the gaps.
“I mean, well…” Jennifer replied bashfully. She didn’t want to take credit for the hard work of the forensics team, but then again, they wouldn’t have had the evidence without her snooping. “I did pass out and crack my face on the pavement, so don’t be too impressed,” she replied. “Let’s not forget about that.”
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